Charlie Trotter: 'I miss him madly'

Long before Charlie Trotter was Charlie Trotter, he was "just" Chuck to me.

As I look back on a friendship that spanned more than 30 years, that is how I remember him: a man who had so many interests and loves that our conversations were anything but boring. One night after I had dined at El Bulli—the famed restaurant on Spain's Costa Brava—Charlie called me from Chicago. He wanted me to go over each and every course I had as well as the entire experience. This took more than three hours, and the conversation only ended because my cellphone died. That was CT: He lived for the memory and the experience. We would laugh forever about life and how fortunate we were to be able to do what we did.

Charlie had so much passion and style; he definitely set the trail ablaze with his ideas and talent. This is a man who enjoyed Miles Davis and Bob Dylan as much as the music of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd—sometimes all at the same time. I miss those phone conversations that would last hours. We would move easily from one topic to the next, all with the same intensity. That is what made Charlie so special. Obviously his cuisine set him apart with all the awards, success and accolades, and the view from the very top can be lonely, but he didn't let this define him.

He was multidimensional and had friends he deeply cared for and was never too busy to make time for them. He made dreams reality for so many.

When he called on that New Year's Day and told me he was retiring, he was so thrilled with the ideas and opportunities that he wanted to explore that he said, "Carrie it's time and it's 'goodbye to all that.' " In other words, I have much more to accomplish in life.

I miss him madly and know that he is happy knowing he experienced a life well-lived.